Thursday, February 10, 2005
Phelan named Charter Teacher of Year
Aaron J.H. Walker / Staff Photographer
Charter Teacher of the Year Pat Phelan helps student Micah Romero with a reading exercise at the Lewis Center's Mojave River campus.
By EMILY BERG/Staff Writer
APPLE VALLEY — Pat Phelan persevered for 10 years to receive her teaching credential.
She started helping in her daughter's kindergarten class in 1978, and eventually school officials asked her to be an aide at the school.
"I jumped at the chance because I really love working with kids," Phelan said.
It wasn't until she took a position as a special education aide that she decided she wanted to be a teacher. Phelan worked for her credential as she raised her children and has been teaching for 11 years. She is a special education teacher for the Academy for Academic Excellence, the charter school at the Lewis Center for Educational Research.
Phelan's passion for teaching has earned her the Hart-Vision Charter Teacher of the Year award from the California Charter School Association.
The association of more than 500 charter schools includes about 10,000 teachers, school officials said.
"There have been some really impressive people who have won, so I'm in good company," Phelan said.
The elementary principal for AAE, Nancy MacLaren, nominated Phelan for the award. Phelan helped develop the school's special education program, starting the school's first Special Day Class for elementary students in special education who required more attention, MacLaren said.
Phelan also went the extra mile and included special education students in the school's signature project with NASA, the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope program.
"She proved that her SDC students had the ability to be just as successful as regular education students at collecting data from the radio telescope," Phelan said.
Phelan's class this year consists of six boys in the fourth, fifth and sixth grades.
Sixth-grader Randy Gruver said Phelan is a great teacher.
"She never yells at you or anything," Gruver said. "She's always nice."
This is fifth-grader Ian McIntyre's third year with Phelan as his teacher. McIntyre said he enjoys most of the work Phelan gives him to do.
"I like doing all the math things she gives me and spelling," he said. "She's a good teacher."
Phelan received the award at the association's national conference in Pasadena in January.
The award began in 1995 and is named in honor of Gary K. Hart, a retired California state senator and former California secretary of education. He also wrote the legislation that established California charter schools, according to the association.
Emily Berg may be reached at 955-5358 or emily_berg@link.freedom.com.
Used with permission by Daily Press, Freedom Communication 2005